I'm only a few weeks away from leaving and I'm already starting to get the jitters! Now that my ticket and insurance is bought, and that I've actually officially planned a 'going away' party of sorts, it's all becoming a bit more real than I thought it would.
Honestly, I'm still the most worried about the spiders.
I guess the big question is, why am I going? And you know, shit, I have no idea either. I guess it's just a desire to be somewhere that I have no history for a while, just to see who I am without it.
It started with my friend Dani joking about how she needed a roommate back at home (while she was living here in Vancouver, no less!) and me replying, "I'll be your roommate!"
As a joke. Except then it was like, why not?
Travelling for me will never be the easiest thing I can do. I have no one to lend me money to do this (and I really, truly mean this. Not in a 'haha my parents won't help me but if I was in a tight spot they would' way), which means I have to be absolutely certain that no matter where I go in the world I can pay for it on my own.
And I figured, why not spend the next year pretending I'm not going to cave and go back to Grad School, right?
I budgeted pretty well for my first week, as far as I can tell. I'll update once I actually arrive and have everything sorted, but I should be set. Leading up to going, everyone kept telling me how much more expensive it is to live in Sydney, but to be perfectly honest--I lived in Vancouver on a F/T job and paid tuition at the same time, I think I'm gonna be okay.
That doesn't mean planning this has been without hiccups! I was planning on leaving at the beginning of March, and then the first week, and now it's basically near the end of March. Credit cards held me up, and then healthcare, and then an absolute demand of myself to have enough money to be not panicked when I arrived. But hey, at least I'm actually going!
I'm just worried I won't have enough money for a celebratory drink when I'm all settled in!
Packing has been a bit of a challenge, because I'd rather not buy new clothing in Sydney. I know that seems a bit strange, but I'm not super keen on getting to Sydney and realising I had the dress I wanted to wear back home. I'd honestly rather try and sell it in Sydney if I realise I'm not going to wear it or bring it back home. I've basically just accepted that I'm going to be paying lots of money for bag weight surcharges. But hey, pay a little bit now, don't shop too much there, right?
I did the most ridiculous thing in preparation for this trip, but I'm excited about it. I bought one of those Instax Mini8 cameras, and loads of film, and I'm going to document as much as possible with it. Expect lots of annoyingly #aesthetic photos.
It feels like I have so much to do, still, when really it's all things to do that need to happen more or less the week before I leave. I have to unlock my phone so I can get an Aus simcard, but I obviously would like to be on my phone plan as long as possible before I do that. I'm also trying to file my taxes before I go so that I don't need to worry about doing two years' worth when I get back, plus this will be the last big return I get since I was a student last year.
Honestly, travelling (or planning a trip) when you're as anxious as I am is kind of weird; I mean, I'm now prepared for everything in the world, of course, and have two months' worth of rent backlogged just in case I really can't find a job (fingers crossed that doesn't happen), but it also means that I'm not going to fully enjoy any of this until I'm completely and totally set up and not worried too much about paying anything.
Of course, I'm probably going to get home and leave for Europe or something daft like that, but we'll cross that (very obvious and impending) bridge when we get there.
All jokes and serious business aside, I've never been more excited and simultaneously terrified in my life. I can't wait to leave the country, let alone the continent! Of course I would choose to make my first big trip and decide not only to leave the continent but to actually move.
Most people just decide to like, backpack along the West Coast or something.
Well, that's about it in terms of keeping everyone up-to-date (haha, as if it isn't just my sister and my mother reading this right now. Hi, mom!). I plan to update this blog as often as I can, that way I can be super rude and direct people to it when they ask me how everything is.
Speaking of questions! I also set up a Curious Cat profile, which is basically just a question/answer site, and I'd kinda love to just answer questions there! So click here if you have anything you'd like to ask me!
I'll catch you all later! And I hope to see you all at my going-away party!
Célina
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Exciting
ReplyDelete